After months of rumours, ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race Down Under’ has been confirmed by the show’s creator and judge RuPaul Charles with production kicking off this week in New Zealand.
The eight-part show, which will stream in Australia on Stan, will be hosted by RuPaul, feature judge Michelle Visage and premiere later this year.
“I’m thrilled to announce RuPaul’s Drag Race Down Under,” RuPaul said in an Instagram video before later adding in a statement to HuffPost: “Thank you to Stan and TVNZ for providing a platform for these outrageous drag artists to share their heart, soul and humour.”
Stan on Tuesday said the queens on the Australia series, the final judge on the main panel and celebrity guest appearances will be announced later in 2021.
Former ‘Big Brother’ winner Ben Norris last week told the ’So Dramatic!’ podcast that Ru and Michelle had arrived in New Zealand for a mandatory hotel quarantine while the queens had already started their two-week quarantine stay earlier this month.
“There are nine Australian drag queens and there are going to be three New Zealand queens,” Ben told host Megan Pustetto, adding that RuPaul opted to film in New Zealand over Australia for financial reasons.
Drag performers Art Simone, Karen From Finance, Etc Etc and Felicia Foxx are rumoured to be part of the show but ‘Drag Race’ Season 6 runner-up Courtney Act is “absolutely not” involved because, according to Ben, the Australian performing artist is apparently “feuding” with RuPaul.
So, who will fill Ross Mathews’ shoes as the third judge?
“There’s been a lot of gay comedians auditioning to be on the panel,” Ben said. “It’s comedian Rhys Nicholson.”
While the third panel judge has not been announced, RuPaul has recently tweeted about Rhys:
‘RuPaul’s Drag Race Down Under’ will premiere in 2021 on Stan.
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